A short animation, made it in Blender 2.76 in the default Blender Render, I dislike using cycles for animations or anything for that matter, never had the patience to learn it. This animation is inspired by the TIE FIGHTER short that I saw a while ago.
It was nice, but it could use some polish. It’s not as smooth as it needs to be.
For an amateur film it’s fairly good. There’s some issues with timing on certain animations. Things could be slowed down a little and smoothed out in general. Like the launchers popping out on that craft. Or the general motion of the fighters themselves. It’s visually more appealing when the motion is smooth and doesn’t change too rapidly.
Genuine particles would work better for effects like explosions, rather than what you’re using now. I know they probably take a bit more time to set up and render, but I think it would be worth the extra effort.
The big thing that stood out early on was the apparent lack of motion in the craft for some shots. Because the background starfield is static, you need something else in the scene to give the illusion of movement. Maybe some small rocks or big asteroids passing by. Or even animating the camera to pass by the ships for those shots. Even if they aren’t actually moving, it gives the impression they are. Maybe move the craft up and down and side to side slightly as a sequence progresses. I know you did use those methods at certain points. But not in others.
The same applies to the characters. If you give each one some subtle movement, so that they’re always in motion, it imparts some life to them. The human brain will always recognise things like that. If a character is completely motionless it’s immediately noticeable, even subconsciously. I’m not talking about anything complex. Just small things like the head moving around very slightly, or the chest breathing. Pressing a few buttons. That kind of thing. Humans are constantly in motion even when we stand still. And that’s something we’re all biologically designed to notice.
The craft themselves could use some more detail, at least for any close-up shots. Particularly the x-wing. Which is bound to have people looking more closely.
Anyway. Despite the things I’ve mentioned I can see lots of potential. Keep at it. And well done. 
I liked it. How long did it take you to make? It’s obvious you put a bunch of work into it and I thinks it’s amazing that you did. Most ppl myself included make simple animations with only one scene and I think most blender users don’t do animation at all.
This was great! It was obviously a labor of love, and it looks like you had a lot of fun doing it! Please do more!
One thing I like is your deviation from more realistic things like explosions. You add a stylized element of your own invention, to represent things that other animators will each do differently, with different goals.
I don’t think animation needs to be realistic in order to be good. Mostly I think a style should have some kind of internal consistency, like having all the ships move in a similar manner, as opposed to aiming for realistic flight patterns.
Thanks for posting!
Be well,
Zack